Bee Resources

I came across this video and thought I'd post it here as I couldn't find an appropriate place already.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIjiInZRxrQ

This is a talk about making comb honey. The first 13 mins I found extremely insightful, especially with regard to the importance of letting a polyculture pasture grow. I immediately thought of mob stocking and how bee friendly that practice can be.

As a disclaimer, this is a very commercialised / industrial focussed talk. I don't necessarily think a lot of this applies to permaculture, but I think there is some value in here none the less.

Thanks for sharing. I've embedded the video below.

I watched the whole thing. Loss of bee habitat is huge, even here in Vermont. Even where there is habitat, it gets hayed much earlier so no flowers for the bees.

Anyone know how much land bees need? Land that is good habitat?

Looks like you need about an acre/hive.

Now I've got a bit of a dilemma. I was going move the cows then go in and mow after to disfavor the weeds they don't like. But there's an awful lot of white clover... and those horrible bull thistles the bees love. Hmmm.

It seems you have a blessing there in the form of double productivity in that field, if you procrastinate for a few weeks until the flowering is past its peak.

I remember as a kid knowing not to go near white clover patches in the grass when they were in flower. I'd get bee stung at least once each summer. You could actually hear the patches buzzing with activity.

I'm in Canada now and when I see white clover patches I quickly check to see where the kids are at out of habit, but what has struck me is that a patch will have maybe one or two bees. I could roll around naked in it without anything other than a grass stain. The distinct absence of bee here is alarming.